What do you and President Trump have in common? You’ll both soon be sweating your midterms.
The congressional elections that take place midway through a president’s term are known as midterms. Even though President Trump, a Republican, won’t be on the ballot, how well his party performs in the November vote is seen as an important test of the president’s popularity.
And President Trump is probably a big part of why interest in this year’s midterms seems to be higher than usual.
“Trump always talks about how he’s good for ratings, and I think that’s right,” says Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “There’s a lot of intensity of emotion about politics on both sides. A lot of people are passionate supporters of the president, and a lot of people are very angry at the president.”
Kondik thinks all that emotion will translate into higher voter turnout than usual for the midterms.